This invention relates to vacuum furnaces and in particular to resistant heating elements and support means for vacuum furnaces.
Numerous types of heating elements for vacuum furnaces are known. Conventional arrangements for supporting heating elements in vacuum furnaces may be found in U.S. Pat. No. 3,737,553 Kreider et al, June 5, 1973, 3,812,276 Cyrway Jr. et al, May 21, 1974 and 4,259,538 Jones, Mar. 31, 1981. The use of supporting plates, clips etc. to support and increase the cross section of heating elements is a design approach which has been used for some time in both regular furnace and vacuum furnace construction. However, conventional designs including those in the above mentioned patents have not fully overcome inherent weaknesses of wide band, thin sheet metal heating elements. Inherent problems with such sheeting elements is the lack of strength of the element at its point of support on a support pin or rod. This is due in part to the decrease in the heating element cross section in the area of the aperture or hole which locates the heating element on the supporting pin or rod.